Two women are weeping. A man dressed as a Disney dwarf arrives with a tea tray. References to Chekhov are made. It’s plain: We are watching a Christopher Durang play. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play. It is, in many ways,…
There aren’t many people who sound like Wanda Sykes. Then again, there aren’t many people like Wanda Sykes, period. The longtime comedian who’s battled cancer, come out as gay, remarried and had children all while in the spotlight, safely stands in a category all her own. But it’s not just…
ASU’s fall theatre lineup will feature The Hungry Woman by Cherrie Moraga, which promises to be a new — and local — take on an old classic…
Ralphie May didn’t take the stereotypical route to comedy stardom. But it doesn’t really matter how you get there, because you’re going to pay your dues in one way or another. “There are a lot of different paths to be a stand-up comic,” May says. “But there’s no easy path…
This is the story of the time I brought my boyfriend to a dance play about vampires during post-season baseball. More specifically, this is a story about the time I peeled the aforementioned man off the couch and dragged him to Scorpius Dance Theatre’s A Vampire Tale during longest playoff…
Some people choose to do comedy. Others feel like they were born to do it. For Pauly Casillas, it might be a little of both. “Well, I’ve always been fat, so I had to be funny,” Casillas says. “I’m a fat comedian, but I’m not a fat comedian. I mean,…
We’ve already rounded up our top picks for theater, comedy, visual art, and creative workshops this fall in Phoenix. Now, from ballet and contemporary dance to festivals and reimagined classics, here are this season’s must-see dance productions. A Vampire Tale Phoenix Theatre October 2 through October 10 Scorpius Dance Theatre’s…
On a warm Wednesday night in June, a hip, young crowd formed a long line along 26th Street in Manhattan. They laughed among themselves, eyed the number of people in front of them, and clutched their blue ticket stubs to AIDY/TAMI/SPO, a sold-out three-woman show at Upright Citizens Brigade. Billed…
With the 2014-15 theater season already started and the busy holiday season here before you know it, it’s time to mark your calendars with fall’s most anticipated productions. Get ready to laugh, cry, and renew your appreciation for the stage, because these shows look promising…
When Matt Storrs was asked in middle school about what he wanted to be when he grew up, the teacher probably didn’t expect him to answer “comedian.” Growing up, Storrs watched stand-up specials on channels like Comedy Central while other kids were watching cartoons. As a teenager, he’d take drama…
Stand-up comic Kathleen Madigan has never been shy about skewering herself. In fact, she can be both candid and clever when joking about her drinking habits, gambling habits, lack of ambition in the gym, Irish-Catholic upbringing, or perpetual singlehood while onstage or in her most recent special, the hilarious Netflix…
Something funny is in the air. Make that 13 things. This fall we’re finding you the best ways to bust a gut with stand-up specials happening all around the Valley. Whether they’re old-school-style stand-up artists or up-and-coming comedians, here are performances you oughta mark on your calendar…
If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to show off your new dance moves, this might just be your chance. The eighth annual Breaking Ground Festival is set to take place Friday and Saturday, March 20 and 21, at Tempe Center for the Arts. Though the show is still quite…
T.J. Miller might be best known as Erlich Bachman from the HBO television show Silicon Valley, or for his movie roles, like his supporting role in She’s Out of My League or “getting yelled at by Michael Bay on the set of Transformers,” but there’s much more to him than…
Paul Mecurio likes to keep his plate full. At present, the mergers and acquisitions lawyer turned comedian writes for the Daily Show With Jon Stewart — a gig he’s had for more than a decade that’s earned him an Emmy and a Peabody Award. He produces his own podcast, The…
There are a lot of rising stars in the comedy world right now, and it seems stand-up is in something of a golden age. Even sitcoms, for the most part, have done away with the laugh tracks and traded the sexy Hollywood stars and starlets for professionals in the art…
Vera Stark is, like so many actresses who start out hungry and wind up legendary, alone on her own stage. She works alongside other actors only because she needs someone to talk to, but none — in her estimation, and in ours — are her equals. Vera is a fictional…
It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there. And no one knows this better than Tom Cotter. The New York comedian came in second to a troupe of dancing dogs on the seventh season of ABC’s America’s Got Talent. Since then, he’s been riding out his runner-up success, restocking his arsenal of…
Jamie Kilstein is making his voice heard. The progressive left-wing comedian can be found sharing his thoughts on war, abortion, gun control, rape culture, religion, veganism, and mainstream media coverage on stage at New York comedy clubs, on his comedy album, What Alive People Do, on his political podcast with…
Put on your dancing shoes, Phoenix. The Emmy Award-winning Fox show So You Think You Can Dance is following up its 11th season with a North American tour. The So You Think You Can Dance Tour 2014 will visit more than 70 cities across the United States, kicking off Wednesday,…
One attends a community theater production of Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues hoping to see pleasant performances and, if you’re a Simon fan, expecting to have a few laughs. One does not go expecting a powerhouse performance by a principal player — a performance so thrilling that it completely overshadows the…
The setup: Orange Theatre’s industrially flavored, iconoclastic mounting of Lorca’s Blood Wedding is similar in many ways to the roughly two-thirds complete work-in-progress version we got to see last winter. The company develops a play in several periods spanning about a year, and viewing multiple iterations reveals some of the…
